


above and beyond

by WattStalf



Series: Poll Fics [69]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff, Little Mermaid Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:34:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 18,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23128627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WattStalf/pseuds/WattStalf
Summary: Gloria has watched humans from afar for long enough. When she meets Leon, she decides that it's time to join them, regardless of the consequences. Now left without a voice and a limited amount of time, she confides in his younger brother, Hop, to get his help in winning over Leon.Because, as all fairy tales go, she needs true love's kiss to find her happy ending.
Relationships: Dande | Leon/Yuuri | Gloria, Hop/Yuuri | Gloria
Series: Poll Fics [69]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1459168
Comments: 8
Kudos: 71





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah buddy, this fic won a poll and will update on Fridays. Basically, rather than having an evil sea witch, we've got Nessa, who just has no idea what to do with this human spell cos it's not really been done before, leading to a lot of side effects.

Gloria has never exactly fit in with the others, though she makes attempts to not be a complete loner. Her fascination with humans, and what goes on above the surface of the water, is not something that most people share, and sometimes, she loses herself in conversations without thinking, and never realizes until it’s too late that she has dominated the conversation entirely, and that whoever she’s talking to isn’t actually all that interested in what she has to say.

For the most part, she doesn’t mind, though it does get lonely, at times. However, she doesn’t feel any less lonely when someone  _ does _ listen to her, and eventually, she begins to realize that she is always going to feel lonely, as long as she is confined to the ocean, because the companionship that she wants, she is only going to get from humans.

Gloria doesn’t know why that is. She can’t pinpoint the exact moment her obsession began, stretching back for as long as she can remember, but somehow, she has never  _ satisfied _ with her life, and the closest she can get to any sense of satisfaction is admiring humans from afar. As a mermaid, that is all she can hope to do.

At the very least, though everyone thinks she’s weird, her mother tries to be supportive of her peculiar interests. She has never discouraged her from them, always telling her that she wants her to follow her dreams, and that she should do whatever makes her happy.

“But,” she always finishes, “there’s only so much you’re able to do, and without legs like theirs, you’re only ever going to be able to admire from afar.”

Of course, Gloria knows that, and doesn’t need her mother to remind her of that every time. For whatever reason, their worlds are completely separate. From what she knows, mermaids and mermen are regarded as the stuff of legends in the human world, and mostly believed not to exist at all. And her kind do nothing to convince them otherwise, living completely separately, and entirely secretly.

Even if she were to get close enough, she knows that she is not supposed to try to befriend one. She is not even supposed to interact with them, so while her mother encourages her a bit, she warns her even more, and those warnings are completely understandable. No matter how much she supports her and wants her to be happy, she can only follow her dreams as long as following her dreams does not risk exposure for their entire society.

_ Without legs like theirs, you’re only ever going to be able to admire from afar. _

What her mother doesn’t know, at least not yet, is that she has been trying to find a way to make it all work, to correct that slight problem, and to make it so that she can meet humans, so that she can be a part of what they have, all without ever exposing the others. If she had legs, if she were not a mermaid at all, then there wouldn’t be a problem. She could leave and she could walk on land, alongside humans, passing for human.

Some might write it off as an impossible dream, but Gloria already knows that it isn’t. Nessa is known throughout this part of the sea for her beauty, and she is beautiful enough that most completely overlook her eccentricities. Gloria goes to her out of curiosity, wanting to know if it’s true that she’s a witch, and if it’s true that she knows how to do impossible magic.

Magic isn’t entirely unheard of, but it’s rare that anyone possesses such ability, and usually, it is confined to the royal family, where they only ever use their abilities in dire situations, or for small party tricks, wowing the crowds with proof of their powers, without actually using them for anything major. It’s so rare for someone  _ common _ to be able to perform magic of any sort that Nessa is a bit of an oddity. Most don’t believe that her powers are genuine, but Gloria wanted to see for herself.

Nessa may be the closest thing that Gloria has to a friend now. At least, she is more than willing to hear her out, not put off by her fascination with humans, and made curious by her outlandish request.

“I want you to find a way to turn someone...well, me, really...into a human.”

The first time she says it, she expects Nessa to laugh at her and send her on her way. She doesn’t expect her to take the request seriously, or at least, if she does, she doesn’t expect her to entertain the idea for even a moment. When she makes the request, she doesn’t think Nessa will actually begin to look into it, but that is exactly what happens.

Magic is mysterious, something that only those who possess it can even begin to understand, and Nessa doesn’t have a family with a background of magical abilities, or many resources to help her figure it out. She is entirely playing it by ear, so it’s been a long time since Gloria asked for her help, and still she is not sure if it’s something she can fully manage.

“I can do a little bit,” she says one day, “but it’s complicated. There are so many strange loopholes involved, and the transformation wouldn’t be permanent. Well, there might be a way to make it permanent, but…”

Gloria doesn’t understand enough to offer much help, but the fact that there are signs of hope are enough for her to keep stopping by, encouraging Nessa and entertaining her with stories of what she’s observed or learned about humans, what she’s found while exploring. She waits as patiently as she can for progress to be made, but as more time passes, she wonders if it would be alright if she could try it as it is now.

If she were to be turned human even temporarily, she could at least see what it was like. Even if she had to turn back in the end, she thinks that at least  _ knowing _ would be better than not, and maybe trying it out would give Nessa the insight she needs to fix it. The only problem Gloria can think of is how sad she will probably be when her time runs out and she has to return to her true form. She has a feeling that once she has felt what it’s like to be human, she will never want to return.

When she isn’t stopping in to visit Nessa, she spends most of her time swimming alone, searching for lost human treasures, or, if possible, ships. She is supposed to keep her distance, but she has managed to get close before, close enough to watch what goes on, and close enough to see the humans for herself.

One afternoon, she is not able to resist approaching such a ship. There seems to be a party going on on board, so she wants to stick around and watch for a little while. As long as she is careful, she can avoid being seen, and she is always careful. There is a window low enough that she can peer through it after pulling herself a bit above water, and that is where she watches.

That is the first time that she sees the prince, and immediately, she is infatuated.


	2. Chapter 2

His name is Leon, Prince Leon. She hears him called that enough times to know for sure that that’s him, and she likes the name, thinks it suits him even though she hardly knows him well enough to figure out something like that. Really, she doesn’t know him at all, but from watching him like this, she almost feels like she does.

Gloria isn’t so stupid that she doesn’t realize she’s falling for him. She always knew, somewhere in the back of her mind, that a day like this would come. After spending so many years fascinated with humans and completely disinterested in her own kind, she knew that she would fall in love with a human someday. That was another reason to push Nessa to find a way to change her, so that true love would not pass her by. Now that she is staring at Leon, she wonders if he’s the one she’s been looking for, if she should try and rush Nessa a little bit harder.

It’s hard to tear herself away from this ship, but eventually, she knows that she is pushing her luck, and she needs to leave. Gloria takes one last good look at Leon, handsome and confident, a bright smile always on his face, and turns to leave. As she is swimming away, she feels warm all over, imagining the way he smiles, imagining him smiling at her like that. She doesn’t know him, but she wants to, and she wants to have the chance to love him.

The storm is sudden, kicking up out of nowhere and quickly overpowering the ocean. Far enough below the surface, Gloria is always unaffected by such things, but she realizes that the ship would not be. She quickly turns back around, returning to where she’s come from, and just in time. Though she doesn’t know what has happened, she knows that the ship is struggling on board, and that someone is standing too close to the edge.

The wind hits this person just right and they plummet into the water. Without thinking, Gloria charges to them, swimming as fast as she can manage against the current, braving the storm. She loses sight of the ship, but she does not lose sight of Leon, and when she reaches him, he’s already unconscious, forcing her to try and hold his head above water as she drags him with her, trying to get him to safety.

~X~

The shore is not so far away that it is impossible to reach, but it is a long journey, and she’s exhausted by the time she has Leon on solid ground. He’s still out, and still so beautiful that she can’t help but stare at him, touching his face with her hand. She realizes with a start that she’s touching a human, a real life  _ human _ , and that she would be in so much trouble if anyone knew she was here. If he wakes up, he’ll  _ see her _ ; she needs to get out of here before that happens, but…

The only think that snaps her out of her daze, staring at the man in her arms, is the sound of people calling out. Leon wakes up suddenly, his eyes opening, his mouth falling open in surprise. Gloria panics, but he smiles at her, gently and peacefully, before passing out again. This time, she wastes no time in scooting back into the water, letting the tide take her before the people running along the beach can spot her. As long as they find him, he should be safe.

~X~

She doesn’t know him well enough to love him, but she wants to. More than ever before, she knows that up there is where she’s meant to be, that her ocean home is just a distraction and that what she really needs is waiting for her, wherever Leon may be. She doesn’t know how she’s going to find him again, but she’s going back up there, somehow.

“There are a lot of weird specifics,” Nessa says. “It can be done, but more than likely, it’ll just come undone. In order to make the spell permanent, there are a few things you can’t do, and things that you have to do.”

“I can do it,” Gloria replies. “Even if it’s only temporary, I need to see him again. Then if I have to do it again-”

“That’s the thing, though, one of those specifics I mentioned. The spell will only work on you once, so if you aren’t able to get it to stick, then you’re done,” Nessa says. “Are you sure you want to go for it, even knowing that?”

“What are my conditions? I can make this work,” she insists.

“You’ll lose your voice, for one thing. If the spell sticks, it’ll come back, and everything will be like it was, except you’ll have legs. But if the spell doesn’t stick...well, there’s also a risk that, once you come back down here, you won’t ever get it back.” That alone is daunting, but Gloria just nods, urging her to continue. “You can write, if you have to, but you can never tell this Leon fellow what you are. Specifically, he’s your goal; you can’t tell your goal the truth.”

“My goal,” she repeats. That seems fitting. “Can I tell anyone else?”

“If you have anyone you can trust, then there’s no problem. It just can’t be Leon. Once the spell sticks, then you can tell him, but not a moment before.”

“So how do I get the spell to stick?” asks Gloria.

“This is the hard part. You’ll have four weeks before time runs out. In that time, you’ve got to make him fall in love with you. The only way to stay is to get a kiss from someone who genuinely loves you. If you can do that, you keep the legs and get your voice back.”

“That does sound hard…”

“Magic is a very mysterious force. I’ve been trying and trying to figure out why that’s the way it is and work around it, but so far, no luck. If you really want to rush things, I won’t stop you, but you need to very careful,” Nessa warns her.

Gloria’s mind is already made up. Leon is her goal. She doesn’t know him yet, but she will, and she will get her kiss from him, and she will be able to stay on land, where she has always belonged. No matter what, nothing is going to change her mind now.

~X~

In the end, she only leaves a note explaining herself to her mother, not sure how to say goodbye. Once that is taken care of, she returns to Nessa, and the two swim out close to the shore, where she will perform the spell. She gives Gloria one last chance to change her mind, but Gloria does not, still as determined as ever to go through with this, still determined to reach the life she has always dreamed about.

Soon after, she blacks out, and when she comes to, she is laying on the shore, alone. Nessa is nowhere to be found, and when she opens her mouth to call out for her, no sound comes out. Looking down in disbelief, Gloria discovers that her tail is actually gone.

Shakily, she stands on her new legs, ready to teach herself how to walk.


	3. Chapter 3

Gloria finds something to cover herself with, washed up not far from where she did, and wonders if this was an afterthought from Nessa, who may have realized that sending her ashore with new legs and nothing to wear might not have been the best idea. Either that, or she is just incredibly lucky, but either way, she manages to sort of fashion it into something resembling an outfit, while she stumbles along the beach, slowly mastering the art of walking.

It is while she is practicing that she hears someone call out, and turns around to see if they are calling to her. In the distance, someone is running towards her, calling and waving, and from this distance, he almost looks like Leon. However, she can almost immediately tell that it isn’t him. His hair is too short and, once he gets closer, he seems to be younger, closer to Gloria’s age. The resemblance is still very apparent, and she wonders if he knows the prince.

“Hey!” the boy says, once he is closer to her. “Are you alright? What are you doing all the way out here?”

Reflexively, she opens her mouth, but no sound comes out. That’s right, she remembers, she can’t talk anymore. She shakes her head, gesturing to her throat, and the boy squints for a moment.

“Oh, are you...oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize,” he says, looking guilty, even though he has nothing to feel guilty for. “Did you wash up here or something? Or are you lost? Do you need some help?”

Even though she doesn’t know the first thing about him, she does know that she’s going to need some help if she’s going to get anywhere like this, so she nods. He brightens and says, “Alright, then you can come home with me! My name is Hop!”

She can only nod again, not able to tell him her name, and is surprised by how easily he agrees to help her, without knowing the first thing about her. Not only that, but she is struck by how much more he resembles Leon when he smiles, bright and eager. As soon as they get to his home, she’ll see if he has anything she can use to write, and then she can properly thank him for his kindness.

“Do you know how to write?” Hop asks, as if reading her mind. When she nods, he says, “Great, then we can talk like that!”

As she follows him along, a large castle comes into view in the distance. Or, at least, she thinks that’s what it is, because it is somewhat similar to the castle that they have underwater, where the royal family lives. Gloria has picked up information here and there throughout the years, be it through stories that she’s heard, listening to humans on ships, and getting close to the shore, when she’s feeling really daring, but everything is still somewhat unfamiliar to her.

For the most part, life on land seems like a distorted version of her life underwater. Buildings are different, with more structure than what she is used to. Her people have homes, places to sleep and keep their things, but overall, most time is spent outside of those walls. Here, it looks like every building is built to be stayed in, if she had to find some way to describe.

She wonders which house is Hop’s as they keep walking along, but then the castle comes closer and closer, until suddenly they’re right at the gates, and guards that she didn’t notice following them step closer to let him in.

“Welcome home, Prince Hop,” a guard at the gate says as they pass through, scrutinizing Gloria as she steps closer to him.

Prince Hop. Well, that would certainly explain the resemblance to Leon, and why he is leading her through the castle gates when he’s supposed to be taking her home. He lives here! Leon must be his older brother or something! Gloria can’t help the excitement that overtakes her then, and she thinks that this must be some sort of fate. What are the odds that Leon’s little brother would be the first person to find her, and the one to take her in? She really must be meant to be here after all.

~X~

“Her name is Gloria,” Hop says, “and I really need you to help me out on this one, Lee. Everyone’s saying I’m crazy for bringing some mute girl I met on the beach straight into the palace, but...but she’s not bad! I know if you vouched for her, everything would be just fine.”

Gloria stands close to Hop, hardly able to believe that she is already in the same room as Hop. She’d written notes to him as soon as he’d given her paper, and though it feels strange, writing with their pens and on their paper, she gets used to it pretty quickly, and the language and letters are all the same. She tells him her name and that she washed up on the beach, but lies and says that she doesn’t remember where she comes from or how she got there. Naturally, most of his guards and attendants think she is very suspicious, but Hop has defended her tirelessly, and now has called in his older brother to help.

And Leon is looking right at her and smiling. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Gloria!”

She nods, suddenly wishing very fervently that she could speak. When she’d agreed to the terms of the spell, she hadn’t really considered how difficult it would be to win him over like this, and already she has so much she wants to talk to him about, so much that she isn’t sure she would be able to put into writing. And she can’t even tell him the truth about her.

She just has to listen to him talk back and forth with Hop about her false circumstances, and is jolted out of her thoughts with Hop says, “She’s a lot like you, Lee! She just washed up and can’t remember how she got there, you know? I mean, it’s different since she can’t remember much of what came before that, but still!”

“Yes, but as I’ve been trying to tell you all, I remember one thing! I remember a beautiful woman saved me! She carried me to shore and watched over me until I woke up,” Leon says, and Gloria can feel herself growing hot all over. “But that’s not even the best part! The best part is, she was-”

“A mermaid! I know, Lee, you’ve told everyone about your crazy dream a million times now!”

“Doubt it all you want, Hop, but it wasn’t a dream. She was real. She’s probably down there under the ocean, daydreaming about me as we speak. It’s tragic, really, that we were brought together for such a short time, while our worlds will always separate us!”

Gloria can hardly believe what she’s hearing, and it takes all the control she can muster not to grab the nearest sheet of paper to tell Leon that he’s right, but that she’s right here, that she got tired of daydreaming about him and grew legs to come up and find him. Instead, she just smiles when Hop looks at her and shakes his head. “A mermaid! Lee expects us to believe a mermaid saved him. Say, Gloria, you weren’t brought here by a mermaid, were you?”

She ponders this for a moment. Technically, she was. Nessa was the one to help her get these legs, and she was a mermaid up until she washed up on shore as well, so no matter how she looks at it, she  _ was _ brought here by a mermaid. She gives him a teasing smile and nods; he and Leon both stare at her in disbelief before laughing.

“Look at that, Hop. Hasn’t even been here a day and she’s already having a go at you! I like your new friend,” Leon says, giving her a bright smile.

He likes her, just as she is now, and he hasn’t stopped thinking about the mermaid who saved his life. If only she could tell him that they were one and the same; then, getting him to fall in love with her might not be so difficult a task. But once she gets him to kiss her and gets her voice back, once she knows that she can stay for good, then she will be able to tell him everything.


	4. Chapter 4

As long as Leon approves of it, Gloria is allowed to stay, until she is able to figure out who she is and where she is supposed to be. She feels bad for lying about that part, feels bad for not saying that this is the only place she wants to be, but she knows that she can’t, and that it would never work if she did.

Her first night, she can hardly sleep, and when she tries to lay still, she is reminded of how unfamiliar her body is now. She can’t help but kick her legs, tossing her blanket up as she does, overwhelmed by everything. Tomorrow, she will have to get serious about winning over Leon, so that she will be able to remain this happy forever.

~X~

But Leon is a very important person, with a very busy schedule, and she barely has a chance to see him before he is gone, off to attend to his packed day. Hop eats breakfast with her, watching her as she marvels at all the human food, each bite a new experience for her.

“That must be good, huh?” he asks, grinning. “Are you not used to food like this? Or do you just not remember any food at all?”

She shrugs, not sure how to answer, but then he passes her papers, bound together in a book, and a pen, so that she can write,  _ I’ve just definitely never had anything this good before. _ He nods like he understands, even though she knows that he has grown up here, eating like this every day.

Her food back home is good too, but entirely different. She keeps finding more and more thinks to like about being human, which gives her fresh determination to woo Leon, but that is off the table for today. Instead, Hop is going to show her around town. He has permission to go outside as long as there are guards following him, but he tells Gloria that things are always so peaceful that he really doesn’t have anything to worry about.

“It’s cos everyone likes Lee so much,” he says. “I mean, my parents, yeah, but you should see how Lee is with people. It’s a good thing that he’s next in line for the throne, I guess, huh?”

Gloria keeps her notepad with her as they explore together, leaving through the gate that they entered the day before, and heading for the town that she has only ever seen from a distance. Humans pack the streets, some stopping to smile and wave at Hop, and not one of them thinking anything is strange about Gloria, because to them, there isn’t anything strange about her.

She is normal to them; she fits right in, even though this is all new to her. And everything is so new, so exciting, that she wants to see it all. Her excitement gets the better of her as Hop leads her along, until she is writing,  _ I want to see that _ , so often that she ends up just pointing at the page, rather than rewriting it. Soon enough, Hop lets her take the lead, dragging him into shops, stopping to watch people in the streets, and marveling at all of it.

“You really must not remember much,” Hop says after a while, after she has to stop and catch her breath. It took her a little bit to figure out walking, but running has come to her naturally, and her legs already feel just as natural as her tail ever did. Being on land feels right to her in a way that she can’t explain, but in comparison, being underwater felt like going through the motions. Only now does she realize that swimming felt temporary.

“I just mean because you’re so excited by such normal things,” he continues, when she doesn’t reply, too wrapped up in her own thoughts. “It’s like everything you do, you’re doing it for the very first time. That’s not a bad thing, though! It makes it all a lot of fun!”

_ I’m having a lot of fun too _ , she writes.  _ I do feel like I’m doing everything for the first time. I think it’s all very exciting. _

“Maybe before, you didn’t live anywhere like this?” he suggests. “I thought maybe something might have jogged your memory by now, honestly.”

_ I don’t think I’ve done anything like this before. _ It’s not entirely a lie, but it is a lie to say that she doesn’t think she’s done it. She knows that this is all new to her, but she can’t tell Hop about that. Or, well, Nessa said that she can’t tell Leon. Does that mean she can tell whoever else she wants? And if she can, what if they tell Leon? Would that count and would it ruin everything?

She doesn’t want to take that last risk, though she is pretty sure that telling someone other than Leon would not be much of a problem. It’s just that she doesn’t know Hop very well yet, and he is Leon’s younger brother. He might think that she’s crazy for saying it, and he would almost definitely tell Leon either way, and whether or not they believed it was true, whether or not they thought she was crazy, it would still undo it all.

So she settles for telling Hop half-truths that all lead back to the lie about having amnesia, and she enjoys her first real day on land. Her first real day being human, her first day doing all the things that she has only ever dreamed about, and even things that she never knew about before. All the while, Hop follows behind her, laughing at how amazed she is by things that he thinks are very simple, but it’s never mean-spirited. Hop is very nice, and though she has only known him for a day, she feels close to him in a way that she never did back home.

This must be what it’s like to have a real friend, she thinks, and if her first friend is human, and made so easily, then that only further proves that she was meant to be here, and meant to be human. She exhausts herself easily that day, and so sleep comes much more easily, but before she falls asleep, she lets her thoughts return to Leon.

He was so busy today that she barely had a chance to see him, which means another day has passed without making any progress. Being human is fun, but fun can wait. Right now, she has a goal to focus on, and once she has achieved that goal, she can stay forever and have as much fun as she wants. Even better, she’ll be able to do all of it with Leon, once he has fallen in love with her.


	5. Chapter 5

From that point on, days continue much the same as the first one, much to Gloria’s frustration. Though she sometimes gets to see him at dinner, Leon is otherwise too busy to spend much time around her, meaning that she is barely able to make progress in winning his heart at all, and it is hard to tell if anything that she does is enough to make him think about her twice once he’s gone.

The only bright spot in all of this is that she still gets to go out most days, exploring and having fun with Hop, who is much less busy than his older brother. Though having fun does come with the reminder that, if she messes this up, she will never have fun like this again, it is still great to spend every day enjoying things that were once beyond her wildest dreams.

In that time, she and Hop become very close. She carries her notepad with her at all times, until writing to speak becomes like second nature to her, and their conversations feel natural instead of one sided. There are times when she wishes that she could tell him more, that she could tell him about where she’s from, about her family and Nessa, and how she got here in the first place, but she still holds back, while he goes on endlessly about his childhood and his family and anything and everything that he can think about.

He has a lot of stories about Leon, and it is hard to hide just how interested she is in hearing about him. So far, she has not mentioned her interest in the crown prince to anybody either, knowing that there is no easy way to do that. No matter what, she will likely be reminded of his royal status, while she is a nobody who washed up on the beach, and without being able to talk about when she saved his life, it will seem like she has no reason to like him, because she has hardly met him.

Even with that story to add onto things, she knows that she still hardly knows Leon. Back then, she only watched from afar, and the first time that he spoke to her was after she had transformed and washed up. So she feels a little silly about the whole thing, no matter how important it may be to her, and tries to keep it a secret for now. If Leon falls in love with her, then there will be no need to hide it, because she can’t possibly look silly for loving the man who loves her in return.

In the meantime, she has to settle for waiting for Hop to bring him up first, glad that the two of them are close enough that most of his stories involve Leon. Hop is great to be around in general, and even when she has begun to worry about her time ticking by without any progress, it becomes hard to stay upset once he is around. His smile is infectious and his energy and enthusiasm easy to get caught up in.

Once he realizes just how many things she has never seen before- or at least doesn’t remember, as her story goes- he makes it his personal mission to try and show her something new every day. This is not a difficult task, and each time, he marvels at just how sheltered a life she must have led before. When he starts talking about that, it becomes even more difficult to hide the truth from him, especially when he looks at her with wide and curious eyes, his eyes practically begging her for some sort of story to explain it all.

She spends her first week just getting shown around by Hop, exploring things that had become mundane to him and that are entirely new to her. He claims that everything becomes new and exciting when he experiences someone who has not experienced it before, and that statement, strangely enough, causes her to blush. Hop seems like the sort to find excitement in anything, so she knows that that should not be anything special, but to her, it is.

When she finds herself getting flustered by his smile, she always reminds herself that he resembles Leon, especially in his smile, and his bright eyes as well. It would be hard not to be flustered by someone who looks so much like the man she is head over heels for, especially when she has the added embarrassment of being so surprised by things that should be common knowledge. She never feels stupid, not necessarily, but she does feel silly to get excited over what might be nothing to Hop, and to other humans.

But soon enough, her first week on land is beginning to come to a close, and Hop is still astounded by how clueless she is, and she is still no closer to getting Leon to really notice her. Gloria has begun to worry, and perhaps that worry is what makes her do what she does. Perhaps she feels like she needs an ally in this, or perhaps she just feels like she can trust Hop after all the fun they have had, and needs to talk about this to somebody.

Whatever the case, she makes the decision to tell him the truth about her, everything that she can. As far as she knows, the spell will not be affected by her telling someone who is not Leon, and she chooses to believe that Hop will keep her secret, as long as she makes him promise to. She does not want to be alone in this anymore, and she does not want to lie to him every time she is forced to use amnesia as an excuse for not understanding something.

Her opportunity comes one day when they visit the ocean. Hop had put this off all week, afraid that being near the ocean might upset her or drag up unpleasant memories, but today they decide to go, with Hop wondering if this might drag up a lot of memories, perhaps enough to understand where she came from. Today, she is going to tell him that it  _ is _ where she came from.

“Do you believe in mermaids?” he asks her out of nowhere, as they walk along the beach. It is the perfect introduction, she thinks. Almost too perfect, but then he says, “I’m not sure. Lee keeps talking about being saved by one, but it seems a little out there to me. Still, it would be interesting, wouldn’t it?”

_ I believe in mermaids _ , she writes, and Hop nods, not judging her in the least for it.

“Well, I suppose the ocean  _ is _ pretty big. I doubt we know everything that’s out there so it might be possible. It must be nice to be able to swim as far out or as deep as you want to.”

Gloria takes a nervous breath before she writes,  _ It is. _

“Huh?”

_ But being up here is nicer. _

“Gloria, are you teasing me?” he asks with a grin. “You’ve got quite a playful sense of humor, I’ll give you that. Do you think you always have?”

He looks at her, expecting an answer. Well, this is it. Time to tell him everything. Pen in shaky hand, she presses it to the paper, trying to think of how best to explain it.


	6. Chapter 6

_ I’m actually not joking _ , she writes.  _ I do sometimes have a playful sense of humor, and I know that I always have, because I don’t actually have amnesia. But this isn’t a joke. _

Hop squints at her words, before asking, “What does that mean? You remember where you’re from? But why did you lie? What are you trying to say?”

_ I really am a mermaid. _

He laughs for a moment, but it seems forced and quickly fades. Looking at her, it takes him a moment before he says, “It sounds completely ridiculous, you know? But...you look so serious right now, I don’t think that you’re making it up. Gloria…?”

_ Leon really was saved by a mermaid. He isn’t crazy, I just wasn’t supposed to be seen by him, so I left before we could talk. And then I got turned into a human, so that I could come meet him, and that’s where I am now. _

“Wait, wait, you’re going too fast here. Could you talk back then? You can’t talk now. And how did you turn into a human?”

Gloria decides to try and slow down, and explain things more clearly to Hop. She tries to think about where to start, and decides that Nessa is the best place. Picking up her pen again, she writes,  _ There are some mermaids who can do magic, and I had a friend who could. But she warned me that this spell would come with drawbacks, and specific things I had to do. One of those things was that I would lose my voice. _

“This is completely mad…” Hop says, more to himself than to her. He shakes his head to snap himself out of it and says, “Alright, so then what? Are you going to be stuck like that forever?”

_ Not if I can make the spell stick. If I can do what I have to do to keep it in place, then my voice will turn back to normal.  _ Now she has reached the part of the story that she knows will be more difficult to tell. She will have to tell him about Leon, and that he is the reason for her being here, but she has already come so far that she knows she can’t hold back from him anymore.

“Wait, so it isn’t permanent? Will you turn back to normal?” When she nods, he says, “So, what do you have to do to stay human? And...and why did you want to be a human so much in the first place? Was it because you met Lee?”

She blushes, surprised that he has caught on so quickly, and nods again.  _ You have to promise not to tell him about any of this. One of the conditions for the spell is that he can’t find anything out. Specifically, she said that Leon can never know the truth until time is up, or else it will all be undone. _

“How much time do you have?”

_ I had a month when I got here. If Leon finds outs, or if I run out of time, I’ll turn back into a mermaid, never get my voice back, and never get another chance. But if I do things right, then I’ll get my voice back and I’ll get to stay here forever. _

“So...what do you have to do?” asks Hop.

_ I have to get a kiss from someone who has fallen in love with me. That’s what she said, and so while I’m here, I have to try and get him to love me, and then kiss me. _ Gloria does not bother to specify who it is, because she is sure that Hop already understands.

Sure enough, he says, “Wow, so you came all the way up here and risked all of that because of Lee? You must really like him, huh?” He nudges her, a playful grin on his face, and her blush deepens as she quickly writes.

_ Don’t tease me! _

“Sorry, sorry, but you did walk into that, I hope you realize,” he says with a nod. “No, really, though, I don’t think it’s funny or anything. I think it’s amazing you did all that for him and he doesn’t even know. I’m not going to tell him, so don’t worry about that, but...that’s the kind of stuff he likes! Bravery! Risk taking! It’s too bad we  _ can’t _ tell him, because he’d probably fall head over heels, especially since you already saved his life and all.”

She wants to ask him why he’s said “we,” and wants to ask him if he really thinks that Leon would fall for her because of her bravery, but before she can write either, Hop has begun speaking again. “Of course, I’m going to help you, since you trusted me. If you’re being honest, then you took a big risk on trusting me! And if it turns out that you’re just insane, it still sounds like it could be a lot of fun!”

Deciding to ignore the dig at her, she writes,  _ You really mean that? You want to help me? _

“Well, yeah,” he says, as if it should already be obvious to her. “Like I said, it means a lot to me that you’ve trusted me with it, and I know we’ve only known each other for a little while, but you’re a really good friend, Gloria. I want to help you. Plus, we may have only known each other for a little while, but you don’t have a lot of time before you have to make it happen, so you need all the help you can get. And since I know Lee better than anyone, I’m the best person to help you out!”

There are no words to express her gratitude to him, no way to tell him just how much she appreciates his willingness to believe her crazy tale straight away, and to even sign himself up for her cause. There is a part of her that already thinks about what might happen in the worst case scenario, if she fails and loses everything, and she knows that she will at least consider herself lucky to have made a friend like Hop.

But having a good friend like him only makes her more determined to make sure she never has to go back home. She doesn’t want to lose him anymore than she wants to lose the other experiences she has on land, and she wants to have her voice back so that she can truly talk to him. Gloria wants to be able to stay his friend forever, and if she messes this up, she won’t have that chance again.

It means a lot that Hop cares enough about her to help her with this, and she supposes it must have something to do with Leon as well. That only makes it more exciting that he wants to help her, because that must mean that he thinks she and Leon would make a good match. She hopes that that is the case, and hopes that whatever ideas Hop has end up working. More than anything, she wants to believe that having him on her side will guarantee her success.


	7. Chapter 7

The next day, Hop finds her early on to tell her that he already has the beginnings of a plan of attack.

“It’s pretty urgent, right? So, we need to make sure that we get you that kiss before your deadline,” he says. “With all that in mind, I’ve been working on a plan for you, but there’s no need to thank me or anything.”

_ I still want to thank you _ , she writes, hardly able to believe that he has put so much thought into this, just for her. She has only known him for a week, but not only did he believe her ridiculous story straight away, but has also decided to involve himself personally, just to make sure that she is able to get her voice back and stay.

“Aw, like I said, you don’t have to thank me,” he says, waving a hand. “Just don’t ask me about it yet, cos I’m still working on some things. But, anyway, we do seriously need to get cracking. You only have three weeks to get him to fall for you, and I promise that we’re going to make it happen!”

_ I’ll do my best! _ It feels weird responding so enthusiastically to Hop talking about her getting a kiss from his older brother, but she can’t help her enthusiasm, especially not when he is so enthusiastic himself.

“In the meantime, I was wondering if you could do me a favor? Well, it’s not a favor for me, necessarily, but more for one of my friends,” he says. “And I definitely understand if you don’t want to, so feel free to say no, but she’s really trustworthy, and would definitely be a professional about it.”

_ Wait, who are you talking about? What do you want me to do? _ If it’s just for Hop, she definitely doesn’t mind doing any number of favors in return for him helping her and keeping her secret, but she has no idea who this woman he is talking about is.

“Her name is Sonia, she does research, and she’s kind of really interested in magic and other stuff that most people don’t believe exists,” Hop says. “Lee was bugging her about mermaids recently, you know, because of you, and she is genuinely interested in that. Obviously, you don’t have to talk to her, but I think it would help her research a lot, and if you explain your circumstances, she would definitely keep things under wraps until you were able to talk about it.”

What he says is a lot to take in. Gloria had never considered telling anyone the truth about her, but Hop had earned her trust so easily, and she found herself wanting to share her greatest secret with her new friend. But telling someone that she’s never met, and a researcher, at that, seems like an even bigger risk, especially if that researcher has been talking with Leon about mermaids. Hop insists that she would be professional, but what if she let something slip to Leon?

As if sensing her worry, Hop says, “I really don’t think she would tell Lee anything about you, and he’s way too busy to go bug her right now anyway. Plus, it’s not just to help her research. I know I said it was a favor for me, but consider this a backup plan? I don’t know, when you told me about the one who turned you human, it made me think of Sonia straightaway, and maybe she might be able to learn more about the other side, and keep you human?”

Even now, he is just trying to come up with more ways to help her. Gloria can’t help but be touched by that, and she nods, deciding once again to take the risk of trusting someone else.  _ If you think that she’s trustworthy, than I’ll trust her. I can tell her everything I know, and if she can help me, then that would be even better. But, either way, I definitely owe you at least this much. _

Hop beams and says, “We’re friends, aren’t we? I just want to do whatever I can to help you out.”

~X~

Later that day, when the two go out, he leads her to Sonia’s research lab, where he says she spends countless hours looking to strange things that happen in the area, trying to see if any of it can be attributed to anything mystical or magical. For the most part, her research stay strictly scientific, but it’s no secret that she is hoping to uncover something beyond that, things that her science just can’t explain.

“She’s not going to be able to believe that a mermaid washed up right in front of me!” Hop says, before they knock.

The door soon swings open, and Sonia says, “Oh, well look who it is! How have you been, Hop? Oh, and you brought a friend with you.”

“I’m good,” he says, “and this is Gloria. Lee’s told you about her right.”

“Yes, the mysterious girl who washed up on shore,” Sonia says with a smile. “Come on in, make yourselves at home.”

Once they are inside, Hop says, “Alright, so you might want to go ahead and sit down, because what I’m about to tell you might cause you to faint away in shock!”

Laughing and shaking her head, Sonia sits down and says, “What is it this time, Hop? You know your brother has already come to me with mermaid stories last week.”

“But he didn’t bring you a real mermaid, did he?” Hop asks, with a proud smirk.

Sonia shakes her head again and says, “That’s no way to introduce your new friend. Just because you found her on the beach, and all.”

“But it’s true! Isn’t it, Gloria? She came here to tell you all about how she used to be a mermaid!” He holds his arms out dramatically, and still Sonia seems unimpressed. Gloria quickly writes something down, holding her notepad up so that Sonia can read it.

_ It’s all true _ .

Finally, perhaps because she’s seen the serious expression on Gloria’s face, Sonia’s eyes go wide and she jumps up, pointing to Gloria and saying, “You’re both for real, aren’t you?”

“I told you, didn’t I? Sheesh, Sonia, do you really think I’d tease you over something so serious?”

“Does Leon know about this?” she asks.

“No! And you can’t tell Lee, alright?” Hop pleads. More than anything, Gloria is surprised by how easily Sonia believes them, but she supposes if what Hop has said about her is true, she has probably been waiting for a long time for something like this to happen. That must make it easier for her to believe.

“Why can’t I tell him?”

“It has to be a secret! Gloria took a big risk by telling me, and an even bigger risk by telling you, so you can’t tell anyone! I promised her you wouldn’t,” he says.

Sonia looks pained for a moment before saying, “Alright, but I don’t know why you’d tease me all this. It will probably validate a lot of my research, and I’m supposed to just sit on it…”

“Only until the end of the month,” he says, “but I should probably let Gloria explain that part.”


	8. Chapter 8

Gloria leaves the romantic details out of her explanation to Sonia, but she explains things as best as she can without saying outright that she is here to get a kiss from Leon before the end of the month. Honestly, she isn’t sure if Sonia is just being polite by pretending to ignore the holes in her explanation when she says that Leon can’t know the truth, or that she has to find  _ some sort of way _ to make the spell stick by the end of the month, or if she is so excited to potentially have some of her studies validated that she just goes along with it.

By the time she has gotten to the end of it, Sonia seems excited about being able to use her for further research, and says, “I really don’t know the first thing about how your magic works, but if I can learn anything that might help you, I’ll definitely do my best. It’ll at least be nice to have some real direction for once.”

_ I really appreciate it _ , Gloria says, though she isn’t entirely sure that this woman will actually be able to do anything for her, at least not in that time. She seems intelligent, and definitely reliable, but she would be dealing with things that even Nessa struggled to understand. Hop’s backup plan was thoughtful, but her real hope is that the first plan of action works out for her.

But since she can’t talk about  _ that _ with Sonia, she just goes along with things, and they have conversations about Gloria’s lifestyle, and what little she knows about magic. By the end, Sonia sighs wistfully and says, “I wish there were some way to meet this Nessa character, but I suppose that’s out of the question.”

_ I don’t know if there’s any way for me to get back in contact with her, other than failing and ending up back underwater at the end of the month. If I think of anything, I’ll be sure to let you know. _ Gloria had said goodbye to Nessa with the intention of never returning home, so she isn’t sure if contact is even possible. How she is now, she would not be able to breathe underwater, and with how everyone tries to stay hidden, it would be difficult to get anyone to come to the surface.

When they finally leave, Hop tells her how much he appreciates her trusting one of his friends, before saying, “But not to worry! I’m going to have a master plan figured out soon enough, and then you and Sonia can talk out loud all you want, and she won’t have to try and unveil some grand magical secrets.”

Gloria can only hope that Hop is right.

~X~

“Do you know how to dance?” Hop asks her the next day. “Oh, I guess you probably don’t, since you just got legs for the first time, huh?”

_ I’ve never tried it, no. I can kind of imagine how it works, though. _ Gloria wonders if he’s just asking for the sake of asking, or if he has an actual reason for it.

“We’re going to have to make sure you know at least the basics, so I hope I’m a good enough teacher,” he says. “Because at the end of the month, if Leon hasn’t kissed you by then, he definitely will after the two of you dance together!”

He declares the last bit proudly, but Gloria is still a little bit lost.  _ Why are we going to dance together at the end of the month? _

“It’s part of my master plan, remember? I didn’t want to tell you about it until I was for sure about some things, but it turns out, you’re in luck! It’s actually even more perfect than I could have imagined,” he says, beaming.

When he doesn’t say anything else, she writes,  _ So, are you going to tell me what it is? _

“You know what balls are, right?” When she nods, he says, “Well, we’re having some fancy ball for something or another, and it just happens to be at the end of the month. The setting is going to be perfectly romantic, so if I haven’t managed to get the two of you together by then, you’ll take advantage of the romantic atmosphere! But either way, you’re going to need to learn how to dance if you want to be able to dance with Lee there.”

As he explains himself, Gloria can already feel her excitement building, and she imagines herself in the setting Hop has described. She imagines herself wearing a dress like nothing she has ever owned before, making eye contact with Leon from across the room. As soon as he sees her, he crosses the room to join her, taking her hand so that the two of them can dance, and then, not caring about the crowd that has begun to watch them, he pulls her into a kiss, and she is finally able to speak and tell him…

“Does that sound good to you, Gloria?” Hop asks, startling her out of her fantasy. He laughs and says, “I guess it does, since you were definitely getting all dreamy eyed just now. Don’t worry, we will definitely make it happen! Well, actually, I’m hoping if I push you at Lee at every opportunity, he’ll figure things out sooner, but even so, you’d still be able to enjoy the ball with him either way, right?”

She thinks about protesting his accusation, but there is no doubt about the fact that she  _ was _ getting dreamy eyed, so instead she says,  _ Thanks for thinking this all through for me, and offering to teach me to dance, too. Should we get started now? _

“Oh, absolutely. It took a lot of lessons before I was able to actually dance during these parties, so we need as much time as we can get. I’ve got to cram my years of experience into a couple weeks of lessons, after all!”

So they get started right then and there. While it is determined that Gloria is not a completely hopeless case, she is not entirely able to translate what she can imagine into actual movements just yet. Hop tries to explain things to her as simply as impossible, counting for her so she can try basic steps, but matching his counts is something that takes a lot of work to figure out.

Even so, Hop does not give up on her or get frustrated with her, and even when she struggles, the two of them have a lot of fun together. She couldn’t ask for anyone better to help her, or anyone more supportive than Hop is.


	9. Chapter 9

Though there is the hope that Gloria will be able to get close to Leon before the night of the ball, it does not seem likely that that will happen. For the most part, she either spends her time helping Sonia with her research, or with Hop, steadily learning the proper steps that she will need to know to not make a fool of herself on the night of the ball. Leon, on the other hand, is often so busy that she hardly gets to see him, even in passing.

When she does get to see him, he will talk to her as much as she can, and she is at least glad that he always seems happy to see her, and does not seem to mind having her as a guest. But none of this can really be considered budding romance, or at least she does not think it can. She hopes that he is starting to notice her a bit more, but she can’t shake the feeling that she is not doing much to win him over.

“You’re doing fine!” Hop says, whenever she expresses her concern. “I wish I could do more about getting Lee to spend time with you, but in the meantime, it seems really promising! You should know that he doesn’t spare much attention for others outside of his royal duties. I mean, besides our family and Sonia, and she barely counts since we’ve known her for so long that she might as well be family.”

_ But I’m still living with your family _ , Gloria argues.  _ It’s not like he can avoid me, so why would I be any different? _

“You just are different, that’s all there is to it. You’re not a part of the family, at least, you’re still so new and all,” says Hop. “I don’t mean to say that you’re not a part of the family because you’re not welcome, or anything like that. But it’s definitely different, and Leon would have to see you differently!”

She wants to argue again and say that Hop is just making this up as he goes along, but he is doing his best to support her, and even if he is making it up, he is at least trying to keep her from losing hope. And, anyway, he knows Leon better than she does, and he knows how much is at stake here. If he insists that she is doing fine and that she shouldn’t worry so much, then perhaps it would do her some good to listen to him and take what he says at face value.

~X~

In the time that she does spend with Leon, their conversations are often brief, as he asks her about how she is adjusting, what she has been doing, if she is feeling alright, and if she has remembered anything. Gloria tries to dodge the last two topics as much as she can, because she still feels bad about lying to him about mysteriously washing up without her memories.

She does not have amnesia, nor any amnesia-inducing injuries for him to worry about, and so she hates having to lie about those things. It felt so good to be able to tell the truth about herself to Hop that she wishes she could do the same with Leon, but then she would ruin everything. She just felt like she and Hop grew so much closer once he knew the real her, and feels as though she and Leon could grow closer as well, if only he really knew her.

But that is not a possibility right now, so she simply dodges the topic where she can, preferring instead to tell Leon about her experiences and how exciting everything is for her. Just like Hop, he is amazed by how easily impressed she is by everything, saying, “It’s like you’re seeing the world for the very first time. Or, I guess it really is like that for you, huh?”

She knows that he only means because of her supposed amnesia, but she simply smiles and writes,  _ That’s pretty much true. Everything feels so new to me, and it’s all been very exciting. _

“Well, you’ve had a good tour guide, that’s for sure,” he says with a grin. “Hop is a good kid, you couldn’t ask for a better friend than him. He doesn’t get the chance to meet a lot of people his own age, so this has been good for him. You’ve met Sonia, right?”

When Gloria nods, Leon says, “Her family has always been close to the royal family, so I was lucky to have a friend like her growing up. Hop mostly had to tag along with us, since there wasn’t anyone close to his age. It’s nice now, getting to see how close the two of you have become.”

For some reason, Gloria finds herself blushing at his words, even though his praise was not necessarily directed at her. In fact, it can hardly be called praise at all, and yet she finds herself getting flustered by Leon all the same. Being with him typically has this effect on her, so she supposes that it is nothing out of the ordinary.

~X~

Though conversations like that are rare, getting to spend time with Hop often makes up for it, even as her concerns about meeting the deadline grow. Being with Hop helps ease her worries quite a bit, because even when he is not reassuring her that everything is going to be fine, he still helps her with whatever he can, and when they take breaks to explore town some more together, she has so much fun that she can forget her worries for a little while.

Gloria is happiest when she is with Hop, happier than she has ever been before, and she tells herself that it is just because she has never had a friend like this before. She has never been this close or connected to anyone in her life, and that is more than enough reason to be so happy just to be able to spend time with him.

But still there are times that she wishes she didn’t have a deadline and that things could stay like this, when her worries about Leon are more worries about not getting to stay here than worries about him never falling in love with her. Leon steadily becomes more of a goal to her as her thoughts focus more on Hop, and she does not want to think about what that could possibly mean for her.

There is nothing in the rules of the spell to suggest that she is not allowed to fall in love with someone else, but she worries about how that might affect things nonetheless. She came here because of Leon, and her goal is to get Leon to fall in love with her, so that the two of them can live happily ever after.

Hop is just supposed to be her friend and her ally, helping her along on the journey. And she still definitely feels the initial connection to Leon that drew her here, so she knows that her feelings for him have not gone away. Whatever she might be feeling for Hop, she tells herself that it is just gratitude for all that he continues to do for her.


	10. Chapter 10

Coming into her third week, Hop is having a harder time hiding his nerves regarding the whole situation. He tries to play it off as confidence, but Gloria can see through it pretty easily, since she is feeling pretty nervous about it as well. As much as they have tried, it has been hard to get Leon to pay any special attention to her, because he is still busy, and still seems no closer to falling in love with her.

“Well, this is all just build up, anyway,” Hop says, in one of his attempts to play it off as confidence. “He keeps seeing you more and more often, so you’re going to be on his mind more and more often, right? So, when he sees you on the night of the ball, dressed up and more beautiful than he could ever imagine, his feelings are going to hit him all at once, and he’ll wonder why he never noticed before. I’m sure of it!”

She wants to ask him when he became such an expert on the subject, but she doesn’t mind when he talks like this. Not only is it reassuring, but it shows Hop’s romantic side, a side that she would not have guessed that he had at the beginning. But he seems to think about things in a similar way to her, at least if he understands just how appealing all of that sounds.

It helps calm her down in the moment, but her worry continues to grow with each passing day. Her deadline is coming up, and she has adjusted so well to life on land, has become so happy here and become so close with Hop, that the idea of losing all of that forever and returning to the mundane life she never cared for is awful to her. She will lose her one and only chance at the happiness she has spent her whole life looking for, and she will return home feeling so stupid for ever believing she could pull something like this off.

Not only that, but she will be cursed to spend the rest of her life without a voice. Recovering her voice has become one of the most important things about all of this, though she would gladly trade it forever if it meant that she could stay. Though she finds herself wishing that she could speak to Hop, rather than having to write everything, she would be content to write for the rest of her life. She just doesn’t want to have to give up her legs.

This was all a plan to win over Leon. She rushed Nessa, wanting her to perform the spell without giving her any more time to see if she could perfect it and possibly get rid of the risk involved because she wanted to see Leon again, and that had seemed like the most important thing. He is supposed to be her main goal, but the more she thinks about it, the more she knows that her goal is just to stay, regardless of what would happen after.

Of course, she has to end up with Leon for this to work out, but she surprises herself when she realizes that that is not the most important thing anymore. If there were a way to guarantee that she stayed, she would take it, and even if she didn’t end up with Leon, she realizes that she would be happy, just to be able to stay. Gloria doesn’t want to admit all of that to herself, nor does she want to think about what it could mean.

She doesn’t want to have to explain it to herself and she doesn’t want to understand it, but once she has thought about it, it becomes impossible to avoid. Every day, Hop helps her more, teaching her steps and teaching her how to behave at the ball, telling her things she might be able to do to catch Leon’s eye, and always certain that Leon will fall for her.

Sometimes, he will say, “How could he not?” and she is thrilled by it every time, only to realize, every time, that it is less the idea that Hop thinks Leon is a sure thing, and more that he would believe falling in love with her to be the obvious course of action. He is the closest friend that she has ever had, and this is the closest that she has ever felt to anyone before.

Leon is like a stranger to her. She likes him a lot, at least what she knows about him, and thinks that a relationship with him would probably be great. It wasn’t a mistake to fall for him, and she doubts she would ever be unhappy with someone like him at her side. But there is still that voice in the back of her mind, every time she is with Hop, telling her that she is not nearly as close to Leon, and that she does not spare him nearly as many thoughts.

Gloria does not want to fall in love with someone else. That goes completely against what she came here for, and it will end badly for her either way. She can’t be with anyone else if she is going to be with Leon, as far as she knows, and if she doesn’t get Leon to fall in love with her, then she will have to leave forever. The only happy ending that exists for her ends with her and Leon, falling madly in love and living happily ever after.

That is what Hop wants for her, anyway. He is her biggest supporter, eager to see her end up with his older brother. She doubts he would encourage any setbacks like this, and doubts that he sees her as anything other than the mermaid who threw it all away for Leon’s sake. He would know better than to fall in love with her, just as she should know better than to fall in love with him.

Falling in love with Hop this late into things would be a mistake, and Gloria is not going to allow that for herself. Perhaps things would have been better if he had been the one on the ship, the one that she had saved, the one that she had been infatuated with at first sight. In fact, for all she knows, he  _ was _ there, but she missed him, because she was too busy looking at Leon.

It has always been Leon, and it is supposed to be Leon. Maybe if she had seen Hop first, but she hadn’t, and it had taken getting to know him for her to get to this point. Falling in love with him is completely out of the question, and she knows that already. She knows that well, but she also knows from experience that there is nothing she can do to stop her own feelings.

Just as she was unable to stop herself from falling for Leon at first sight and deciding to risk everything for him, she is unable to stop herself from falling in love with Hop. But her course has already been set, so whether she loves him or not, it doesn’t matter at all.


	11. Chapter 11

The final week passes by all too quickly, and Gloria knows that she is nearly at her deadline. Leon has been even more busy than usual, with preparations for the ball, and Hop has had less chances to try and get them alone together. Even so, he tries not to show his own worries, finalizing their own preparations, and insisting that everything will be just fine.

The night of the ball is her last chance to secure her place in this world, and her last chance not to lose her friendship with Hop. All she can do now is pray that he is right about Leon getting so swept up in the excitement of the night that he realizes his feelings for her and kisses her on the spot, but as romantic as that scenario may sound, it just doesn’t seem very realistic at this point.

Hop certainly has a flair for romance that she would not have expected, and that is something that the two have in common, but pleasant stories like that are only stories if Leon does not actually behave like that when it comes down to it. Not for the first time since understanding her feelings, she wonders if Hop would have done something like that, if he were the one she was trying to kiss.

But she can’t keep wasting her time thinking about how things would be if it were Hop instead.

~X~

The big day arrives soon enough, and Hop surprises her with the gorgeous ball gown that she is supposed to wear. Last week, she had been measured for it, but this is her first time seeing the finished dress, and she blinks back tears when she does. Never in her life did she think she would get to wear something so beautiful, and it all at once makes things easier and harder.

If tonight is her last night as a human, then she is glad that it will end in such a beautiful dress, but it will be the only time she will ever get to wear anything like this. Either way, she thanks Hop and goes to try it on, coming out to show it off for him. Hop stares at her, silent for far too long, and she begins to grow nervous.

She doesn’t have her notepad in hand so she gives him a question expression instead, and he snaps out of it. “Sorry, it was just...never mind, you look...you look amazing, Gloria, breathtaking! I mean, I’m sure that’s exactly what Lee will think.”

_ But is that really what you think? _ She wants to ask, but she doesn’t want to ask, because she doesn’t need to know the answer, and isn’t even sure that she wants to. No matter what his answer would be, it would only make things even more complicated for her, and she needs her focus to be entirely on Leon tonight.

And for the rest of her life, if this works out.

~X~

Gloria is not sure how she feels about being at a party with so many people, surrounded by humans, with few that she actually knows in attendance. Her strange circumstances have become common knowledge, so while nobody questions who she is, they still keep their distance from her, and she stands by herself, not sure what she should do. Leon is supposed to dance with her, according to Hop’s plan, but he is so busy with all of his guests, with plenty of beautiful women wanting a dance, so he has not spared Gloria so much as a glance.

This is not going to work out, she realizes, hanging her head. She is going to be back underwater tomorrow, cursed to spend the rest of her life without a voice, and the rest of her life alone. Already, she had a hard time fitting in, but how will she manage to make friends now that she has done something like this, lost her voice as a result, and will forever compare anyone she  _ does _ get close to to Hop?

While she is thinking about him, he seems to materialize in front of her, saying, “Hey, don’t look so down! The night is still young! Lee is going to notice you soon, I promise, he’s just a little busy right now.”

She looks up at him with sad gratitude in her eyes, happy that he is trying to reassure her, but knowing that it does not count for much. This is going to be their last night together, and though she appreciates the tireless work that he has done on her behalf, she knows that it all counted for nothing in the end. Why did she think she could manage to make someone like Leon fall in love with her in only a month, when he barely even had time to make conversation with her?

“Let’s dance,” Hop says, after a moment of silence. “You should at least make sure you can do as good as you did in practice, even with all these people watching, right?”

She decides that she might as well take his offered hand and let him let her to the dance floor. If she is going to return to the sea tomorrow, then she should enjoy her last night with legs as much as she can. Learning to dance with Hop has been fun, so she should at least have the chance to show off what she has learned.

He pulls her close to him as he leads her across the floor, joining the other couples, and for a moment, she can relax and be content like this. Without her notepad, there is no way for her to properly communicate with him, yet she feels comfortable anyway, resting her head against Hop’s shoulder, knowing that she would never be able to express how glad she is to have a friend like him, even if she could talk to him right now. This will always be a happy memory, she only wishes that it could stay like this forever.

“Lee is going to kiss you tonight,” Hop says. “I just know that he is. We aren’t going to fail now, I promise.” He sounds so sure of himself, even though there is nothing to be sure of, and she almost wishes that he would stop now, and just enjoy the night with her.

It will all be over soon, but it isn’t over yet, and if she has to leave, she wants to spend her last night in his arms, pretending for as long as she can.

The song comes to an end and Hop says, “I’m going to get his attention, alright? Just stand over here and look pretty, and I’ll make sure Lee notices you. He’ll be over to ask you to dance any minute now, just you wait!”

He takes off before she can stop him, and she has no voice to call after him.


	12. Chapter 12

Leon crosses the room with a smile on his face, and in a way, it plays out like Gloria’s fantasies, like how she imagined it when she would daydream about the ball. But right now, she is not sure just how she feels about it, and is definitely not sure that this is going to work out the way it does in her fantasies.

Even so, she can’t help but feel excited when he says, “I’ve been meaning to find you all night. I hope you didn’t think I was neglecting my guest. Would you like to dance, Gloria?”

She nods, and takes the hand that he offers her. For so long, she has fantasized about being able to dance with Leon like this, and being able to do it for real, she knows that she still has feelings for him. Even after realizing that she has fallen for Hop, she knows that her feelings for Leon have not gone away, and she doesn’t know what that means for her. Perhaps with time, she would be able to learn to love one and forget the other, so if Leon were to kiss her, then she would be able to forget her feelings for Hop as they settled in together.

Fresh hope begins to grow in her then, and she falls into step with Leon, glad that all of her practice was not for nothing. He does not pull her quite as close as Hop did, though, and she wonders if Hop was simply too familiar, or if Leon wants to keep his distance. Or maybe there is nothing to understand, and she is spending too much time thinking about it. She has spent a lot of time in her head since losing her voice, but even before then, she did not do a lot of talking, because she did not have many friends. In that way, overthinking has always been a specialty of hers.

“I hope you’re enjoying yourself so far,” Leon says, and all she can do is nod in response. He smiles and says, “That’s great! I know Hop was really excited for you to be able to come, so I’m glad you’re enjoying it as much as he must be. Do you have any memories like this, or is this your first time at a party this big?”

When she gives him a helpless look, he says, “So, no memories, still. But I bet this is the first time, don’t you think?” Again, Gloria nods, and this seems to please Leon. “We’ve enjoyed having you as a guest. I know a lot of people think that we’re naive for simply taking you in and taking you at your word like that, but I like to think that me and my brother are good judges of character.

“I haven’t been able to spend a lot of time with you, but that’s just the nature of being the heir to the throne,” he says with a theatrical sigh. “Either way, it has been great to have you. You’re welcome here for as long as you need a place to stay, Gloria. Even if your memories return, and you find that you can’t go back home, you’re always welcome here.”

It’s such a bold and trusting thing for him to say, and her heart aches to hear it. Now more than ever, she wishes that she could tell him about her feelings, and her reason for being here. He would understand then, and surely that would be enough to set everything into motion. Already, he is fascinated by the mermaid that saved his life, and already, he thinks that Gloria would be a welcome guest for the rest of her life. If it weren’t for all the factors preventing her from telling him the truth, she thinks that the truth would be enough to win his heart.

All she can do is flash him an appreciative look. Without a notepad on her, she doesn’t even have a way to tell him that she has feelings for him, and even if she could, she could never explain everything to him. She should have been more patient, and then maybe the spell would not have been so oddly specific, and she might have had a chance of winning him over in this moment.

Instead, they continue to dance together, having this one sided conversation, as Leon gives her so many openings to confess when she does not actually have a chance of doing so, and Gloria simply has to watch it all pass her by. She is going to lose everything tonight, and even now, with Leon smiling down at her, she sees the resemblance between him and Hop, and wonders how she is going to live without her best friend.

Leon has been her dream since the moment she saw him, and Hop has been her best friend, and she has fallen for both of them, for entirely different reasons. She wants to be with Leon because it means that she can stay forever, and she wants to be with Hop, because she has spent so much time at his side, and knows that she could be happy with him, even if it is only possible in a different world, where she isn’t doomed to never see him again unless she remains with his brother.

Leon talks to her about things that she barely listens to as her worries begin to grow. He is no longer saying sentimental things, and she has no means of steering the conversation back in that direction. Leon is not going to kiss her tonight, and the romantic atmosphere fades just as quickly as it came on, until this is nothing like any of her fantasies.

The long song comes to an end, and Leon bows, and someone else hurries up to catch his attention. He apologizes as he goes to deal with his own royal business, and Gloria is left alone again. She will be lucky if she sees him again for the rest of the night, and she knows that her chance has already passed her by. Really, she knows that she never had a chance to begin with.

With nothing else to do her, and only a few hours before she loses everything, she heads for the door, fleeing the party quickly. She should get to the beach, so that when she transforms, she can submerge herself in the water and swim back home to face her shame. Maybe she can work with Nessa, as a means of repaying her for trying so hard on a spell that Gloria could not manage to make stick.

Maybe together, they might find a way to fix this...but Gloria shakes her head, deciding that she will never get her hopes up for anything like that again. She takes her shoes off so that she can run, and she runs barefoot, as fast as her legs can carry her, to reach the beach. At some point, Hop calls after her and begins to chase her, but Gloria just keeps running.

She won’t be able to run for much longer, so she might as well enjoy that while she can.


	13. Chapter 13

“Gloria! Why did you run off like that?” asks Hop, when he catches up to her on the beach. She shakes her head, unable to explain herself to him without a means of writing, but he reaches in his pocket, producing her pen and paper, before sitting next to her.

_ It’s no use _ , she writes.  _ I’m going to have to go back home soon, and I’ll never be able to see any of you again. It wouldn’t be easy to say goodbye, no matter when I did it, so I left. _

“But you don’t  _ know _ that it wouldn’t work out! You still have time!” Hop protests. “I can get Lee’s attention again, I can tell him that it’s important for him to spend the whole night by your side, I can  _ force  _ him to…to…”

_ You can’t force him to fall in love with me. It was a silly idea from the start, for me to think that I could make him fall in love with me in only a month, when I didn’t know the first thing about him. I didn’t even know the first thing about love, but I thought if I just wanted it enough, then everything would work out. I never should have rushed things, because then I might have been able to meet you later, when I didn’t have a deadline. _

“What if we can fix it?” he asks, starting to sound more desperate. “I mean, you may have to go back for now, but what if Sonia keeps working on it? We need to come up with a system so we can meet up and share progress, we could even introduce Sonia to, uh...her name was Nessa, right? I bet they’d get on great, and they could fix this up in no time! It may seem hopeless now, but it might not be that way forever, and then you don’t even  _ need _ Lee.”

_ We have no way of knowing that we can reverse what Nessa’s magic has already done, and if failing curses me to remain a mermaid without a voice forever, then there might not be anything she or Sonia can do. It would be better if you all forgot about me, instead of keeping false hopes. _

Now, Hop looks angry with her. “How can you say that? Even if there’s nothing we can do at all, why would I ever want to forget about you? I would never want to forget you, and neither does anyone else! Even Lee would be sad if you just up and left and I told him he should just  _ forget about it _ . No matter where you are or  _ what _ you are, you’re still going to be our friend!”

Gloria has tried her best not to cry in front of him, but now, she isn’t able to stop the tears. Of course she wants to stay friends with them all, especially Hop, but if they are never going to be a part of the same world again, then she is sure that it would become too complicated. Things would be easier for him if he could forget her, and just go on with his life like before she came along.

“You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, Gloria,” he continues, when he sees that she is not going to write anything. He puts his hands on her shoulders, and she drops the book in her surprise, seeing that there are tears in his eyes as well. “Before you, I spent most of my time by myself, or bugging Sonia, and when you’re gone, I’m just going to be by myself again. If I want to waste my time trying to figure out a way to bring you back, it’ll still be better than the alternative! Gloria...I just want to help you.”

She would tell him that he had already done too much for him, if he weren’t still holding her shoulders, making it so that she can’t easily pick up the book. Instead, she moves forward, so that she can hug him. It won’t be much longer now before she has to go, and now, she is glad that Hop followed her out here. She can be close to him up until the end, and even though that may be harder on him and she may be selfish for thinking so, she is glad for that.

Hop returns her embrace, the two of them shaking a bit with their tears. “I’m going to help you,” he says. “I promised that I would, so I’m not going to let you just….I’m going to figure something out, okay?”

He pulls back, waiting for her to nod, and though she knows that she shouldn’t reassure him, when she knows that it’s hopeless, she nods. Hop smiles through his tears then, mimicking her nod and saying, “It’s going to be alright. We’ll try everything, okay? We’re going to try everything. I…”

He pauses for a moment, and then takes a breath. “Gloria, when you explained it to me, did you explain it  _ exactly _ how it was explained to you?” The question surprises her, and she thinks about it for a moment before she nods. “So, when you said...well, you said that Leon was your reason, so he couldn’t know the conditions, right? But when you said it, you said that someone who loved you had to kiss you.”

She nods again, and Hop says, “You never said it had to be Lee. If you explained it exactly like it was explained to you, then it never had to be Lee. It just has to be  _ someone _ who falls in love with you!”

She wants to tell him that this idea is even more ridiculous. If they were unable to make Leon fall in love with her in the amount of time that they had, then how could they find someone  _ now _ ? It’s far too late to consider possibilities like that, just like it’s always been too late for her to consider if Leon is really the person that she wants to throw everything away for or not.

“I don’t know if it’s going to work, but I want to help you, and I want to try,” says Hop. “I was never going to say anything about it, because...well, I didn’t think I should. And I just want you to be happy, and even if you don’t feel the same, that’s fine! It’s fine as long as you stay here with me, you can get your voice back and you can stay and take as much time with Lee as you want, and forget that I ever said it, alright? But, first...you have to let me kiss you, because I know that  _ I _ love you, Gloria!”

His hands are on her shoulders again, and he gives her no time to process his confession, no time to react at all before he pulls her close and presses his lips to hers, frantic and desperate, tears rolling down his cheek. Gloria is overwhelmed by a sudden warmth, urging her to lean into the kiss, not wanting it to break, not wanting to pull away from Hop for any reason at all.

But he does pull back, hesitating as he catches his breath before he asks, “So, was that...was that enough?”

“Hop,” she says, her voice sounding foreign to her after a month of silence. It’s the first time that she has said his name out loud, the first time that he has ever heard her voice. “Hop, I love you too.”

Soon enough, they’re crying again, this time because they’re overjoyed. Somehow, it worked.


	14. Chapter 14

When Hop finally recovers from his outburst of emotion, the first thing he says is, “I really like your voice.” He pauses, as if this is not how he meant to put it, before correcting himself. “It sounds even more beautiful than...well, I mean, I always thought it would be  _ beautiful _ , I guess, I just couldn’t imagine...well, I guess...Gloria!” Suddenly his eyes widen and he says, “You really meant what you said, didn’t you?”

She has only said one sentence since recovering her voice, and so far, Hop has given her no chance to get a word in edgewise. Gloria can’t help but laugh, a real, full laugh, as opposed to the silent ones that she has grown used to, as she says, “Of course I did. And I suppose you must have meant it as well, because…”

“Because it worked!” Now, he is grinning uncontrollably, and he pulls her into a hug. “Gloria...Gloria...you get to stay now! Now you can stay, and...well I don’t really know what happens next, but we can figure that out! I’ll make sure that you can stay and live with me, at least, you don’t have to worry about not having a place to live.”

“Won’t it be strange now that I can talk?” she asks. “It will be harder for me to lie about not having my memories.” Even as she says it, it feels strange to be discussing things so practically, after what has just happened. She is in love with Hop, and Hop is in love with her, and despite her fears, that really was enough to ensure that she could stay by his side.

She has no idea how Leon even factors into things anymore, but she knows that she will still have to depend on his kindness, as much as Hop’s. They are both still royalty, and there are probably plenty of people who would question a stranger staying there just because the princes both say that it is alright. It has been an issue from the beginning, but she never let herself think that far ahead, because this goal was always more important than anything else.

Except, originally, the goal involved Leon, and she still has no idea how he factors into things now. She has no idea how anything is going to work now, and she is left in a daze as she tries to discuss things with Hop. Maybe it’s wrong for them to talk about what is to come when they still haven’t properly discussed what is going on right now.

“How long have you known?” she asks.

“For a while, but I didn’t want to know,” he explains. “I mean, I wanted to help you get with my brother, so it was hard for me to realize that I was falling in love with you. I just...decided that I didn’t want you to leave, no matter what, and if that meant I had to see you with Lee, then so be it. I just didn’t know...I mean, what about him?”

This is the question that she has been dreading, but the question she knows that she needs to answer. “That part is complicated,” she says. “Nothing has ever happened to change my feelings for him, or anything like that, I just...also got to know you. Also started to feel something for you, until I knew that I had fallen in love with you, and then it wasn’t just about my feelings for him anymore, and I didn’t know what to do. I just wanted to keep pretending like everything was the same, because I thought that was the only way I would get to stay.”

It is hard for her to be honest with him about her feelings for his brother, after a big confession like that, but she tells him like it is, because that is what she has done since the day she told him the truth about her. And Hop just keeps smiling, as if none of it bothers him, and he says, “You didn’t know you could fall in love with me and not have to worry about a thing!”

Hop is an incredibly good hearted and honest person. He has never had any reason to believe anything that she has said; he never even saw her with a tail, never saw any proof that magic exists or that mermaids exist, has no way of proving that she did not hold her tongue for a month, waiting for just the right moment to pretend that she could speak. And even so, he still believes her now, and is happier to know that she loves him than he is perplexed that she is not exactly over her crush on his older brother.

“Hop…” she says, shaking her head in disbelief at just how  _ good _ he is. She can’t help a soft laugh before she says, “I love you.”

“I’m never going to get tired of hearing you say that,” he replies. “I’m never going to get tired of listening to your voice, I don’t think. You have a beautiful voice, I know I already said that, but…”

For a while, they remain on the beach, hugging, and then sitting together. He wants to hear her talk more, and she tells him stories that she has already written down for him, but that he wants to hear in her voice, because they seem different now. From time to time, Leon will come up again, and Hop never seems bothered by it. Eventually, he says, “I never minded you being in love with him. I wanted it to work out so much, but I guess a part of me hoped you might be able to love me too. Is that crazy, or what?”

Gloria has no idea what to say to him, but he wants to hear her voice, so she tells him that she doesn’t think that he’s crazy. She doesn’t know what she thinks, but she at least knows that much. Maybe things are more complicated up here in general; maybe there are still things about this world that she does not understand. But because of Hop, because of his love for her, she has the rest of her life to discover them, and the rest of her life to try to understand.

“I want to be with you, and nothing is going to change that. I’m always going to want to be with you, so don’t think I’m trying to get rid of you already,” he says. “But if you ever want to try and express your feelings to him, I think you should. I don’t know why, I just think that you should.”

There is a pause, as Gloria tries to think of how to answer, before Hop says, “Oh, but he’s never even heard your voice before! Lee is absolutely going to freak out the first time he hears you talk! Oh, and what about Sonia? You’re going to have to answer a lot of questions, so I hope she doesn’t tire you out too much.”


	15. Chapter 15

Sonia could listen to Gloria talk about her home for hours, and never get bored with it. She is entranced by every detail, and that, combined with her shock to hear Gloria talk, to know that the spell was secured with Hop’s assistance, is enough to keep her from teasing the two of them about their relationship too much. Now that she understands the basics of what Gloria had to do, she probably thinks that it was meant to be Hop all along.

Perhaps, in some weird way, it was, but there is no way for Gloria to prove anything like that. But she knows, at the very least, that she is where she is meant to be now, able to spend her days with Hop just as she has been, but this time she can talk, carrying on conversations with human after human, knowing now that she is one of them, and that she always will be. She spends a lot of time with Sonia as well, helping her finalize notes about this mysterious world under the sea.

The three of them have still not told Leon anything major about it, so he is still unaware that Gloria is the mermaid that saved his life, but nobody gives him a hard time about believing in such things anymore. He seems to understand without needing to ask, when Gloria recovers her voice but not her memories, and she and Hop vow to tell him everything that they can soon enough.

She is going to tell him everything, eventually. Perhaps she will not confess her feelings, not at first, but she is going to at least tell him who she is, maybe even that he inspired her to come on land, that she did it so that she could meet him. But, for the time being, she is going to wait before she tells him how she feels, until she has a better understanding of those feelings, and how they fit in with her feelings for Hop.

For the time being, she tries to help Sonia understand her world, and tries to think of ways that they might be able to bridge the gap. That is a major undertaking, of course, and one that her people have often feared, so she is not sure if there is much that either she or Sonia will be able to do. But she wants to at least start small, so that maybe becoming human does not have to mean leaving everyone else she cares about behind for good.

First and foremost, she will find some way to contact her mother and Nessa, and then maybe she can still talk to them, even if she has to lean over the side of a boat while they stick their heads above water. Maybe there will be some way for her to introduce Nessa and Sonia, and the two can work together, combining magic and scientific research, just as Hop had once suggested.

Gloria has a feeling that the two of them could be very good friends, and might even be able to cover some important ground together.

~X~

After a few weeks of simply enjoying her human life, going out with Hop and talking as much as she can, sometimes even singing, Gloria finally decides that it is time to talk to Leon. Of everyone, he knows the most about her old form, even if he does not realize it, and she can’t keep him in the dark about that anymore.

“I have something that I need to tell you,” she says, once they finally have a chance to speak to each other alone. She finds that she is not as nervous around him as she used to be.

“Is it that you were the one who saved me from drowning?” he asks, so casually that it nearly knocks her off balance.

“How long have you known?” she asks, once she has properly recovered.

“I didn’t necessarily know, but I always wondered. I mean, I never got a proper look at her, because I was so out of it, and then there you were, with legs instead of a tail, and you never mentioned knowing me,” he says. “But there was something familiar about your face, and, to be honest, your story didn’t add up, but you seemed like a good person, so I played along.”

“It was me,” she admits. “I’m...surprised you believed it all so easily, it sounds crazy when I talk about it. I used to be a mermaid, and I wanted to become human. Losing my voice was a temporary side effect, but...Hop helped me with that one.”

Leon smiles fondly at the mention of his brother and says, “You two look good together. I’m glad that he makes you so happy. But...well, I just have to know! Why did you want to be human?”

“I always have, for as long as I can remember. I always wanted to become a human, and I’d been trying for so long, but honestly, when I met you, it made me want to really try,” she says, giving him a warm smile. “I felt like I might have a place with humans.”

“You do, and you always will. You’re always going to have a place with us,” says Leon.

For now, she will not tell him about the way his smile still makes her heart skip a beat.

~X~

“I love you,” she tells Hop sometimes, just so that he can hear her say it. At first, she also needed time to get used to the sound of her own voice, but now, it is all for Hop, who still marvels at it, even months after she regains the ability to speak.

“I love you,” she repeats, when she sees the way he smiles, and he repeats it back to her, taking his hand. Today, he is going to teach her how to swim, something that she has recently discovered she has no idea how to with her new legs.

Hop thinks it’s hilarious that he is a better swimmer than a former mermaid.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're interested in my writing updates, please follow my fanfiction twitter @WattStalf  
> 


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